(Draft) 2026 Boys Varsity Lacrosse Season in Review

The 2026 season is now in the rear-view mirror.  I know when I started scheduling games in mid-June of 2025, a call from Tom West of Bolles School was a frightening prospect.  Figuring they had a squad much more refined and experienced than us overall, I was on one hand excited about the challenge, yet on the other hand thinking I might of had illusions of grandeur putting them on the 2026 schedule.  

Mind you, we knew we had Connor.  Mind you, we did not know we had Ivan and Cole coming to Saint Edward's.  Mind you, we knew we had some work to do with depth at Face-off, Goalie, Defense, SSDM and we were not sure where our 6th offensive threat would come from, and certainly just six isn't enough!

We knew we needed to give the Goalie position a coach who spends hours developing the position as well as the people we have there.  And frankly, we need that same thing with a face-off coach.  The game is so specialized at the face-off that it is really important to challenge the kids every day at this position alone.

By the time I finished the schedule in September, we had a schedule that I had to admit to myself we'd be lucky if this team made it to .500, but to be perfectly honest with you, I did not want to schedule any less in competition.  In my mind, losing to a stronger team is much more valuable than taking down a much weaker opponent.  Yet we knew the challenge in front of us would come January 20th.

1. There was a time when I first got here that I couldn't get really strong teams to play us.  2. There was a time when I got here that weaker teams didn't mind playing us.  3. Four years into my coaching at Saint Edward's, we were hosting or traveling to any strong team in Florida we could find, and literally for the next four years, we had the strongest schedule in Florida, with teams doing anything to get us on their schedule if they were a top ten team.  4. Two years down the road from that, we are turning down those calls now just so we don't overchallenge our team.

It's definitely a cycle, and we have been in a rebuilding cycle for three years now.  We believe we have a very strong group of 8th graders who can add to a pretty good 9th-grade group in 2026.  We have some strong upperclassmen returning with tons of experience through the rebuilding years, so we are definitely excited about next year, even as this season ends once again without getting past the Regional semifinal.  You might think I'm disappointed, but in fact it's just the opposite.  This group was a very good group to work with.  We learned along the way that everyone there was fighting to make the field and make a contribution.  We learned along the way how to be more selfless and more accountable for our actions and our playing time.  We learned along the way how to build on our skills and learn about concepts to help build a strategy.  We weren't perfect, and as we learned, the more significant aspect of this team was that they never gave in, they never gave up, and they continued to the end to fight.  And one thing I can say about this group, they were connected throughout the season.  The players worked on their wall ball faithfully, they got together off the field for team activities and dinners, and they supported our girls program and even made our traditional morning practice session, combined with our girls team, a new and wonderful success, catapulting us to a great first Regional Quarterfinal round win against a formidable opponent, First Academy.

So let me summarize the season in this way.  We were able to win almost every game this year.  I will discount a couple of games.  The first one, we were not ready to win vs Cardinal Newman.  The players and the coaches were not ready.  We couldn't get a preseason game, and it showed in just about every aspect.  We just were not ready.  

Now you will never hear me say this, but in this one case, it may be true. We were ready to play Saint John Paul, but the officials weren't ready to make the right calls.  First time in all the coaching I've ever done, we had a goal scored against us that never went in the goal, nor did it come close... but of course it was called a goal.  First time ever I had a goal we scored, called back that clearly was a goal and not even close.

Out of our eight losses, two were to Benjamin.  And although I'd like to say we should have won those, we aren't there yet with this group to handle them.  

Three games where we didn't show up or fully understand that competitive teams compete hard and with intensity to beat us, and we must match that competitive spirit and intensity.  We did not match skills against very beatable teams like Pinecrest, Belen Jesuit, or Gulliver Prep.  If I had to say there were disappointments this season, it was those three losses when we just did not match the intensity or desire of the other team.  Every one of those games started out well, but then the other team punched us in the mouth.  And once they understood we don't like getting dirty picking up groundballs, and we didn't like getting to our spots as a UNIT on the field to be competitive on defense or even offense at times, well, those games became telling of the mistakes we hadn't corrected from a couple of wins we bearly got out of town with at Martin  County (we built a comfortable 5 goal lead with 5 mins left in the game), Oxbridge Acad. (we had a 8-1 lead) , and Holy Trinity (we blew a 8 goal advantage).  When our opponents figured those two things out, they took the game to us, and we didn't respond.

The Bolles game... uggh!  Well, they are 23-0 right now, and going to the State Semi-finals.  All I can say is we should have won it, we had them on the ropes and had them down by three going into the fourth quarter and suddenly we couldn't win a ground ball, and we didn't get to our spots off ball on defense.  Somehow, they win 9-8.  

In our best game all season, we wanted to compete and we wanted to punch the other team in the mouth so to speak on each and every play of the game.  It was refreshing to learn in that game that if we really wanted something just as badly as our opponent that we could fight tooth and nail for everything.  And we did fight, not just for a quarter or just for a half, but four quarters of fight that made our opponent buckle to their knees.  Of course I'm talking about the Vero Beach game, apparently our Super Bowl.  Well, at least we found something to FIGHT for, now I am hopeful that in the future our players understand that if they bring skills, bring our concepts and strategies, as well as our FIGHT, we get to a new level of play each and every contest. 

Last but not least, I know we didn't win four games I thought we should have, but our returning players next year will hopefully understand the treasure of learning how to be tougher on groundballs than our opponent.  Our last two games of the year, even our last against Benjamin, we became the better team at picking up ground balls and running it to space and then finding help.  We learned to be more consistent at executing a defensive game plan, we learned how to reverse field when the other team overplayed us, we learned that not taking a play off has rewards that make you hold your head high, respecting an opponent in either win or defeat.

BTW, our Freshman love beating their chests (before games).  It's hilarious, it's kinda really cool, it's a connection, and well, soon the entire team was doing it prior to our dynamic warm-ups!  And if an official ever asks do we have the correct shoulder/chest protection for the kids, I know our players would be ready to demostrate our compliance with the NFHS regulation! 

So I end this summary with something from one of our freshman defensemen, who sings this song better than Steve Perry of Journey himself:  Don't Stop Believing! (click on)

Something to keep in mind for 2027

May 2026-September 2026:  Don't Stop Believing!   Keep your game advancing by playing club ball or making sure you pick up your stick for wall ball daily/weekly, and get in the weight room (high priority)!  Play at your athleticism any way you can!  

October 2026- January 2027:  Still Don't Stop Believing!  Keep building and developing your strength and speed.  Listen to your football, basketball, or soccer coaches when they remind you to be accountable to your teammates and to make team-oriented concepts work for team success.  Pick up your stick, pass and catch in wall ball, play indoor box or do an outdoor tourney(s).  You got one shot at being the athlete you want to be. Now is the window that sets up your high school athletic career and decides your college opportunities, whether you play sports in college or not.   

February 2027- May 2027: NeverStop Believing!  Connection, Conversation, and Accountability drive your game, and you fight to earn and learn what young people do to become better young men, and that means doing what lesser men won't do!  If you've done your work from May 2026-Jan 2027, Feb through May become the REALITY you created!

Before Spring Break:

After Spring Break: